Device for killing rats.



PATENTED M1 112, 1908.

H. REESE. DEVIOE'FOKR KILLING RATS.

APPLIUATIOii FILED AUG. 5, 1907.

u: l n z 1 o F] M we a to r Ila/(WE a 686' @3 in eases wasnmamh n.

UNITED STATES HENRY REESE, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

DEVICE Fon KILLING BATS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY REEsE, citizen of the United States of America, residing at Baltimore city, and State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Killing Rats, of which the following is a specification My invention relates to a device for killing rats and has for its object to fill the holes or burrows in which the rats live with a poisonous gas which will destroy them. The gas which I usually employ is carbon dioxid, but chlorin or other gas might be used. I have found that rat holes or burrows generally have a comparatively small area or cubical contents and that a comparatively small quantity of poisonous gas introduced into these burrows, which as a general rule run in a descending direction, will either kill the rats in the burrows or drive them out, so that they may be caught at the holes and killed.

The principal value of the invention is to destroy the young rats and prevent their Il'lultiplication.

My invention consists in a convenient and simple means by which a suitable quantity of poisonous gas may be generated and intro duced into the rat holes.

It consists of a vessel containing crushed marble or other suitable material and a vessel containing a suitable acid, with a means by which gas generated from the union of these materials will be able to escape into the rat holes. In case of a gas heavier than air it will descend and flow downward into the holes and fill them with a poisonous mixture. In this a plication I shall describe the use of carbon ioxid, but I want to be understood as including any other gas such as chlorin, sulfur dioxid or hydro-cyanic acid.

Referring to the draWings,Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of my device. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section.

A is an exterior casing or box made of tin or other suitable material and rovided with a cover on one end which may e sealed in any suitable manner.

B is a tube secured in the interior of the case A, passing through a perforation in the bottom and open at both ends. The upper end of the tube B is located a short distance from the top of the case A.

U is a glass containing vessel, preferably a bottle or the like, held in place in the case A by means of a socket D, in the bottom of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Anplication filed August 5, 1907.

Patented May 12, 1908.

Serial No. 387,136.

case. The bottle C is filled with acid, referably hydrochloric acid, or other suitab e acid. The s ace E surrounding the bottle C and the tu e B is filled with crushed marble. The marble should be in se arate pieces, but broken fine. The quantlty of marble and acid should be so proportioned as to provide a slight excess of acid and sufficient to produce by the action of the acid upon the marble between 1 and 2 cubic feet of carbon dioxid gas.

F is a dent in the exterior casing, the inner surface of which rests upon the side of the bottle 0. This dent or lug is provided for the purpose of forming a convenient means for breaking the bottle.

In practice the tube is inserted in a rat hole with the bottom downward. The other openings from the nests of the rats in the immediate vicinity are then sto ped up so that escape is impossible, and t e casing A is struck a shar blow at the point F With a hammer or 0t ier hard instrument, with the result that the bottle is shattered and the acid therein contained is liberated. It Will immediately attack the marble surrounding it and a rapid generation of carbon dioxid will result. The vessel being entirely closed except for the opening in the bottom through the tube B the gas will be forced up to the top of the easing into the upper end of the tu e B and out of the lower end of the tube B into the rat hole, whence it will descend into the hole and poison the atmosphere so as to cause the destruction of the rats.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a device for killing rats, the combination of a casing containing a finely divided carbonate in a dry state, a fragile vessel containing an acid which when liberated will attack the carbonate and generate a oisonous gas, and a gas escape tube open at 0th ends and sealed into the bottom of the casing, one end being located near the upper interior end of the casing and the other end protruding through the bottom, substantially as described.

Signed by me at Baltimore city and State of Maryland this 2nd day of August, 1907.

HENRY REESE.

Witnesses:

B. SoHRoETER, W. W. POWELL. 

